Video footage counters Philadelphia police version of fatal shooting

New footage from a 7-Eleven convenience store surveillance camera appears to contradict the stated rationale two Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police officers gave for the Dec. 15 shooting death of Brandon Tate-Brown.

The Philadelphia Police
Department has maintained that Tate-Brown was pulled over by
officers because the lights of his 2014 Dodge Charger were not
turned on. They say one officer was knocked to the ground in a
tussle with Tate-Brown, who was then shot and killed by another
officer once he reached into the passenger side of his car for a
stolen, loaded handgun.

Yet the new footage given to the Philadelphia Daily News by Brian Mildenberg, an attorney
for Tate-Brown's mother, Tanya Brown-Dickerson, revealed that
Tate-Brown stopped at a 7-Eleven moments before his death.
Identified by his mother, Tate-Brown had his car lights on in the
footage.

"You see clearly
that he pulls up in his white car with the headlights on. He gets
out, walks into the 7-Eleven, walks around, and then drives off
with his lights on the entire time," Mildenberg said.

The surveillance footage was accessed by private investigators,
Mildenberg said, and made public by the Daily News first on
Monday evening.

"We know from the video that his headlights were on, and we
know that he wasn't reaching for a gun when they shot him,"
Mildenberg said. "Whether Brandon started the struggle or
whether he had a gun is not clear, but we do know [that the
Police Department] lied about two items."

Mildenberg also told the
Daily News last week that surveillance footage accessed by police
that he and Brown-Dickerson were invited to watch at the
Philadelphia police’s Internal Affairs Division showed that
Tate-Brown was not shot next to the passenger side of the car,
nor next to a weapon, but from behind the trunk of the car after
he fled across a nearby street.

"From the video, the moment he was shot, he was running away
from the officer, across Frankford Avenue," Mildenberg
said.

"He was behind his vehicle, near the trunk of the vehicle –
not near any doors – when he was shot and dropped down."

March heading back to the site of Brandon Tate-Brown OIS
shooting after impassioned demonstration at 15th precinct
pic.twitter.com/Ylje7J1wMg

"From the video, the moment he was shot, he was running away
from the officer, across Frankford Avenue," Mildenberg said.

"He was behind his vehicle, near the trunk of the vehicle -
not near any doors - when he was shot and dropped down."

The footage they viewed at police offices came from four
different cameras set up at nearby businesses, the Daily News
reported. The images come from a distance and are murky or
indecipherable at times, according to the report.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said last week that the
"quality of the tapes are not very good" and were not
relied on completely during the department’s investigation.

"The investigation did not rely solely on the tape," he
said. "You have the officers' statements, and statements from
four independent eyewitnesses who actually observed the incident
as it took place."

District Attorney Seth Williams is investigating the case
locally. Mildenberg and Brown-Dickerson have called for the US
Department of Justice to open its own probe into the fatal
shooting. They also want the Philadelphia Police Department to
publicly release the surveillance footage, in addition to witness
statements, police radio communication, and other records of the
shooting.

The footage they viewed at police offices came from four
different cameras set up at nearby businesses, the Daily News
reported. The images come from a distance and are murky or
indecipherable at times, according to the report.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said last week that the
"quality of the tapes are not very good" and were not
relied on completely during the department’s investigation.

"The investigation did not rely solely on the tape," he
said. "You have the officers' statements, and statements from
four independent eyewitnesses who actually observed the incident
as it took place."

District Attorney Seth Williams is investigating the case
locally. Mildenberg and Brown-Dickerson have called for the US
Department of Justice to open its own probe into the fatal
shooting. They also want the Philadelphia Police Department to
publicly release the surveillance footage, in addition to witness
statements, police radio communication, and other records of the
shooting.

"But police aren't licensed to shoot every person that runs
from them."

Ramsey said he would not release the officers’ statements, nor
their names for that matter. He also said the department’s
surveillance footage was off limits, and that he apologized to
Brown-Dickerson for not notifying her when the officers were
allowed back on patrol after being cleared of department
violations.

"Believe me, I understand the loss of life, and the tragedy
that goes along with it, but we also have to be very mindful to
let the investigation take place," Ramsey said.

"This isn't trial by media, and it's not trial by public
opinion. This has to be based on facts."

Allowing Brown-Dickerson and Mildenberg to view police footage
was part of the department’s efforts at transparency in the case,
Ramsey said, after they had requested that of police for two
months since the shooting.

"We did let them see the tape. That's what was being asked,
and we did see to that," Ramsey said. "We have nothing
to hide."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said Tuesday that in the Philadelphia Police
Department, it had identified a "pattern and practice of
stopping and frisking pedestrians without reasonable suspicion
that the person was involved in criminal activity and
disproportionately stopping African-Americans.”

“This report shows that while the police department has made
some improvements in its stop and frisk practices, there are
still far too many persons – tens of thousands each year – who
are stopped and frisked without legal justification. In our view,
the city must move very decisively to ensure that stops are made
only where there is reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct.
Failing such action, we will seek court intervention to secure
full compliance with the consent decree,” said David
Rudovsky of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg, LLP.